Unexpected Visitor and Eating to Live

Hiya –

I hope everyone had a swell swell – stress free Christmakkah.  I spent a considerable amount of time reading, eating, hanging with family and trying to download the three Twilight soundtracks to my iTunes library – and not necessarily in that order of priority.  Earl the cat stayed at the condo in Atlanta and was generally glad to see me come home on Monday.

I left to head home to Asheville last Thursday afternoon, but not before Conference Room C had an unexpected visitor.  We do have regular (if not odd) visits from our supervising attorney and the rare visit from the general counsel of the company (go team, job well done, and all that).  About mid-day one of the administrative assistants heard us laughing and decided to come in for a visit. She stayed and visited with us for a little over 20 minutes.  She apparently joined the company around the same time I started contracting there – about four months ago.  For 10 minutes she explained to us all the ailments she has had since joining the company, including, but not limited to, problems caused by her “weak capillaries” (her words, not mine) such as burst blood vessels in her eyes, causing blurry vision and dizziness, sore ankle due to her horseback riding, broken tooth (leading to decay and inevitable root canal) and bronchitis.  It is very possible I missed something, but I think you get the point.  She is a veritable smorgasbord of infirmities.  For the remaining 10 minutes of her visit she talked about all the law firms she has worked at over the years (I would guess her age to be between 55 and 60) and how absolutely horrible the lawyers have been – I believe she specifically said “lawyers are all liars and cheats – every single one.”  She then verbally paraphrased a 10 page letter she wrote to the office manager upon her departure from one of her former firms.  Her last words to us before returning to her desk were “the jokes about lawyers are all true.”  On her way out she chuckled, coughed and then wished us a Merry Christmas.  When she was safely around the corner and out of earshot, I turned to Juniata and Tanya (Clare was already off enjoying her holiday) and said “She doesn’t know we are lawyers, does she?”  They said, in stereo “apparently not” and we had a good craic (Gaelic – sort of means fun) laughing about it before burying our heads back in our computers.

OK – now to the important stuff.  In my previous blog I mentioned a “weight loss competition” that started and then fizzled out.  Well, my fellow competitors, namely Stacey Thompson and Mel Beam, and I ARE NOT GIVING UP.  We have decided to take our health seriously.  We are obviously not getting any younger and it is time to take action.  I think I mentioned several blogs ago that I have, over the years, purchased all kinds of exercise equipment and videos – only to pile such items up in the cupboard unused.  Similarly, Mel has purchased, read and then forgotten about untold numbers of diet and “living healthy” books.  Her latest purchase, Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s “Eat to Live” book is about to get used!!!  Starting at the first of the year Stacey, Mel and I are going to start implementing a healthy weight loss program that we hope will bring lasting results!!!  We are going to work together and support each other along the way.  If you want to join us, grab a copy of the book and give me a shout out.  We will include you in our support system.  The basic idea is to completely cut out (at first) all animal products (vegan baby) and then ultimately significantly reduce our intake of animal products so that they are a minimal percentage of our overall nutrition.  Giving up meat will not be difficult for me.  For over ten years now I have been meat free except fish (except for a few months in law school when I went back to eating birds – but the birds ended up being fried birds, so I quickly went back to just fish).  However, not eating cheese and other dairy products will be a little bit trickier.  I loves me some cheese.   One might say I hanker for a hunk of, slab or slice or chunk of - I hanker for a hunk of cheese.  BUT, I am up for the challenge.  I am excited about sharing it with Stacey and Mel and whoever else wants to join in and I am excited about being healthy when I turn 40.  Mel and I have already made plans to get together once a week to cook up our vegan dishes for the week.  We will cook enough for the next week, freeze it up and then enjoy!  For the first six weeks we will pretty much be eating fruit and raw and cooked vegetables.  It’s gonna be a challenging six weeks and should produce some interesting blog posts!!!  Wish us luck!!!

In the right corner we have...
"Ain't Nothin' but Mean" (soon to be lean) MELISSA BEAM!!



In the left corner we have . . .
"Gotta B Grim" (soon to be trim) STACEY THOMPSON!!

And in a completely different corner altogether we have . . .
"Hell 2B Dealt" (soon to be svelte) AMY SULLIVAN!!

Check out “Forks Over Knives” on Amazon.com if you have a spare hour and a half.  It’s a great video that addresses the benefits of cutting out animal products.  Just put “Forks Over Knives” in the search function and you can rent it for $3.99 or something like that and watch it on your computer.

I hope you all have a fun and safe New Year’s Eve!!!!!  Great things are going to happen in 2012.  I just know it!!!!!  Clean your house and eat your greens and black eyed peas. 

Ciao for now!